LocalBitcoins has been endorsed as a virtual currency provider by the Finnish Financial Services Authority (FIN-FSA) at the start of November 2019. Finland only permits officially registered cryptocurrency vendors who match the legal criteria to function in the country.
To obtain the endorsement, LocalBitcoins had to substantiate to the FIN-FSA that it is following appropriate Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures, in addition to suitable security for client assets.
Management and other top executives also need to satisfy the criteria to be thought out appropriate to suit the tasks. Finland is perceived as a nation with stringent regulations.
Therefore, operating as a regulated cryptocurrency provider in that country will open a plethora of opportunities for LocalBitcoins. Sebastian Sonntag, CEO of LocalBitcoin, elaborated as follows:
“Finland is a well-functioning society, which holds trust and confidence at high levels. At the same time, the controls in the financial sector are of particularly high quality and the position of the clients is well protected.”
The FIN-FSA enrollment is yet another step by LocalBitcoins from being an unregulated Bitcoin provider to transform into a regulated P2P (peer-to-peer) exchange.
LocalBitcoins is popular for showing flexibility in adapting to different situation in various countries such as Venezuela. However, to a certain extent, it is also believed to provide a way to circumvent capital controls. Such an argument stems from the fact that a good chunk of users have left the platform to join less regulated Bitcoin related service providers.
